If you want to be privy to the equivalent of an graphic designer-old-boys club, where we sit around in our leather chairs, smoking cigars and talking about the war, this discussion thread on UnderConsideration.com is priceless. A designer poses this question:

Hey, old guys: How has technology actually changed what you do?

We hear from the black turtleneck set, the young upstarts, the Old Skool, even my hero Marian Bantjes. And there’s even a sub-argument pitting art/design vs. craft, one of my personal favorite stupid squabbles.

You can see a real glimpse into a world that was almost totally swallowed up by another in a few short years.

I really can’t conjure a convincing Lament for the Old Ways. Although I really loved getting my hands dirty, I am such a happy computer user. Besides, I still get my hands dirty in a variety of ways. Once a crafter, always a crafter! By the way, Art equals Craft, you ninnies — we are All-One!

I can, however, lament the fact that it was (and is) so difficult to remember the key command to get curly quotes to appear on the Mac, leading to a few years of pure ulcer-time for me. The day I saw improper inch-marks being used as quotes in a national advertisement, I believe several blood vessels burst in my head. That, and the it’s-its thing … arrrrgh…please.. find my pills.. my head..

Two sites that give me hope for the future:

• Edward Tufte is on my shortlist of why I’m happy to be living when I’m living. To have such a mega-brain turn his considerable highbeams on the field of visual information has made life extragood. To say that I love the art of charts is an understatement. It’s one of my biggest obsessions. Bet you didn’t know that, did you?
• House Industries design shop and fontographers. Their FAQ section is blood-curdling in the efficiency, vision and professionalism of their approach. However, they completely avoid being black-turtlenecky by their love of jack-o-lanterns, hot rods and their awesome show and tell section.

This just in: BoingBoing points out the apostrophe and quote marks abuse groups on flickr! Oh, happy day!